Miss Masquerade
by Aiyta
Summary: Okay, so it's corny and it's about a costume party - but heck, read it anyway! RE-WRITING AND COMPLETING as of 31/3...
1. Saturday Wake Up

_Okay, so I'm on a bit of a 're-do' drive with some of my earlier, and unfinished, stories and it seems this one is my newest victim! I'll be rewriting the original chapters and also adding in a few extra chapters. Including one where Gerald and Harold find out the mystery girls identity :)_

_As usual, if anybody is keen on doing any art/drawing to be the stories picture (esp. of Helga's costume?) then by all means, I'd love you to._

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Hey Arnold.

* * *

Arnold Shortman groaned as early morning light hit his eyes and rolling over lazily in whatever comfortable bed he had managed find himself asleep on, he lifted a hand to his pounding head. Blinking away the fuzzy vision from his eyes, he lifted himself slowly onto his elbows, allowing him to peer out over the room he had woken up in.

Gerald was sound asleep, little snoring noises escaping his throat every so often, across the opposite side of the large and rather extravagant room. Luckily, the sheer size and luxury of his current location brought back the memory of arriving at Rhonda's house for a party the previous night.

Aside from that, he found any memories of his time spent at the Lloyd mansion on Friday night, were rather foggy, lost in the distant haze that was currently clouding his mind. Reminding himself never to drink that much again, even though he didn't remember having all that much anyway, he rolled over again toward the side of the bed and swung his legs to the floor.

Rather reluctantly, considering how sore his body currently was from sleeping on a foreign mattress, no matter how soft it may have been, Arnold wandered his way over to the door, which clearly had a small note stuck to it.

_Breakfast served from 10am in the main dining room, Rhonda xx_

Arnold blinked, wondering what time it currently was, it _was_ fairly bright outside after all. Digging through a pile of jackets and bed sheets, he managed to locate Gerald's trusty watch, which currently confirmed the time as 10:15am. Glad for the chance to make breakfast, Arnold left Gerald to his peaceful slumber, and slipped out into the hallway.

Next, he needed to remember where the nearest bathroom was, and if he thought hard enough about it he vaguely remembered there being one a few rooms before the staircase that would lead him downstairs. Hoping a cold splash of water might clear his head a little, he moved toward his destination, still trying to dig up little pieces of memory from the previous night.

"Impressive hang-over face, Football Head." teased a voice Arnold didn't hear all too often these days.

Quickly, he lifted his head to look at Helga, and once again whatever he was about to say got caught in his throat as his eyes rested on her. She looked the same as always, her entire body swamped in baggy clothes that made her head look so small in comparison to the rest of her. However, he did notice that her usually dead-straight hair, which was pulled back into her customary tight ponytail, was nicely curled.

Actually, just looking at her hair seemed strangely familiar, it even made his head hurt. Overall, that made very little sense because he had never seen Helga with curly hair; this _had_ to be the first time. Maybe that was why it felt so strange...

"What planet are you on this morning!" Helga's voice hissed, again interrupting him from his thoughts.

Arnold was rather surprised she was even talking, or rather yelling, at him at this present moment anyway. Helga had largely avoided all conversation with him for years. Currently, her annoyed scowl was slightly downplayed by the light coverage of last night's make-up, despite the fact that he could tell she had made obvious attempts to wash most of it off.

He managed to mumble a, "Sorry." as she stormed past, obviously headed down the stairs and toward the dining room.

Sighing, he watched as she left, her long blonde hair swishing across her back to the movements of her hips. However, something else was catching his attention at that very moment, a very faint hint of sparkling gold on her arm, barely peeking out underneath the long sleeves of her t-shirt.

Sparkling golden lines, that seemed to be stuck in his mind a little, and if he thought deeper he could remember the image of an entire ring of golden swirls, making their way around somebody's upper arm. Somebody tall, with long blonde hair...

Suddenly, his head hurt even more, and last night's memories came rushing back to him in waves.


	2. Friday Night, Part I

_Arnold stepped out of Gerald's car in front of Rhonda Wellington Lloyd's house, the invitation for her Midsummer Night's Masquerade Party held firmly in his hand. It had advised guests to come as well disguised as possible, and nobody would dare disappoint her by not putting their best effort into a costume, those of which were to be inspired by 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' of course._

_Gerald slammed the driver's door shut, flicking the switch to lock the car behind him and walking over toward Arnold. Gerald's costume was great, he'd come as a mechanical, which was an obvious excuse to display his muscles to everybody, but try as he might to become unrecognisable, his hair completely gave him away. Arnold, however, was particularly grateful for that fact as amongst a sea of masquerading peers, it would be nice to know for sure who exactly his best friend was._

"_Ready to go, man?" Gerald asked, adjusting the cut-off jacket he was wearing for the evening and looking expectantly over toward his best friend._

_Shrugging, Arnold moved up the stairs toward the front door, where a few costumed guests moved into view, "Ready as I'll ever be." because, when it came to Rhonda's parties, nobody could ever claim to be truly 'prepared'._

"_Gerald, Arnold, darlings." somebody, more than likely Rhonda given the tone of voice, dressed as the Queen of Fairies, welcomed them, "Welcome to the Midsummer Night's dream!"_

_Gerald raised an eyebrow, shifting the mask on his face to the side a little, "Thanks... Rhonda." he assumed as they made their way into the large central ballroom._

_People passed by them in the hallways, and Arnold didn't recognise a single one, he wondered if he knew them or not, but simply kept walking. Entering from the grand staircase, down into the ballroom, they were surrounded by more unrecognisable attendees, amongst a few rare familiar body shapes, or clothing choices._

"_Hey." Arnold nudged Gerald, pointing over toward somebody leaning against the bar at the very back of the room, "Is that Harold?"_

_Gerald hummed a little, looking the person with the slightly ill-fitting costume up and down for a moment, "Yeah, definitely, let's go."_

_Harold blinked and looked up at them as they approached his location, "Oh hey Gerald, hey Arnold." he said, sipping his beer casually, "Nice costumes."_

"_Cheers, man." Gerald grinned, primping his jacket once more for effect, "I'm sure Phoebe will appreciate it."_

_Arnold chuckled a little, Phoebe would appreciate him in a potato sack, "How are you going to find her in this place?" he wondered._

"_Easy, she looks for the hair!" he shrugged, and Arnold realised he was right, it was like a beacon._

_Harold looked like he had been about to speak, when a sudden quiet fell over the large ballroom, and a few people let out little gasps. Focus of each and every guest was now on the staircase, or rather the beautiful girl currently descending the stairs down into the room._

_She was dressed as a fairy, her costume hugging her figure tightly; a bright pink corset with intricate detailing that flowed seamlessly into a short, darker pink, skirt that stopped just above her mid-thigh. It made her slender legs look like they went forever, and despite the short skirt, it looked glamorous rather than slutty. Deep red and pink wings peaked above her shoulders, her long golden curls cascading down to her waist and shining under the ballroom lights. Her mask was detailed, and covered almost all of her face, the only exception being space for her eyes and small cut-outs on her cheeks._

"_Nice body." Gerald whispered, nudging Arnold in the side with a little smirk._

_Harold nodded a little, "Nice tits." he added._

_Arnold blinked, noticing he'd been paying so much attention to her costume; he'd missed exactly what Gerald and Harold were gawking at._

_She was tall, definitely taller than the average girl their age, and her body was slim but toned, with surprisingly amazing curves for her frame. Harold was right, her chest was, well, ample was a respectful way to put it. Her pale skin was striking, and looked creamy, almost as though it wasn't real._

"_Guys, you both have girlfriends." Arnold reminded his two friends politely, once he had managed to stop gawking for himself._

_Harold rolled his eyes a little, "Yeah, we know. Why do you mention it, huh?" he teased, "You calling dibs on the hot chick?"_

_Arnold blinked at him, "Harold, she's way out of my league!" he answered incredulously._

"_Course she is." Harold laughed, "I bet ya she's got her eye on somebody rich like Lorenzo, or a football player or something."_

_Gerald nodded in agreement, "Either that or she's got some college boyfriend."_

"_Hey Arnold, what about a challenge?" Harold asked, "If you go over and talk to her, I'll give you five dollars."_

"_Harold, are you serious man?"Gerald gasped, jumping to Arnold's defence, "He'll be rejected like there's no tomorrow!"_

_Harold shrugged, "Yeah, but I'm willing to pay five dollars to laugh at him."_

"_Five dollars?" Arnold repeated, shaking his head, "It's not worth it."_

_Harold frowned, "Oh, come on dude, I'll make it ten?"_

"_Fine." Arnold sighed in defeat, if he was going to be Harold's entertainment for the night, he may as well get it over with, "Ten dollars."_

_Harold grinned in satisfaction, and Gerald shot him a look of pure hope, as Arnold began to move away from the bar and move through the crowd to approach the gorgeous girl who had now stepped down into the ballroom. She was now moving into the centre of the floor, bombarded with compliments and cheesy pick-up lines as she went. Those who tried to directly approach her were quickly told to go away, and Arnold gulped, this was definitely going to be brutal._

"_Uh...hi." he managed rather awkwardly as he neared her, wondering if that may suffice for his ten dollars, so he could just get the heck out of there immediately._

_The girl blinked, and looked at him with wide eyes, "Hello." she finally responded, her tone sweet and soft, her lips glossy and pink, shimmering as she spoke._

"_You seem to have captured everybody's attention." he noted lamely, immediately kicking himself for both pointing out the obvious and sounding like an idiot._

_She frowned a little, "I'm not really used to it." she replied, her bright blue eyes darting around the crowd surrounding them._

_Arnold stared at her for a moment, she was still talking to him and he couldn't quite comprehend it, "We could head over to the lounges over there..." he tried to suggest as casually as possible to remedy her situation, "It's less crowded."_

"_Sounds good." she responded, and he could not believe this was about to happen._

_Guys eyed him jealously as he moved through the crowd with her, and Gerald and Harold watched on in shock from their positions at the bar. Arnold ran his eyes over the intricate marking covering her body, as they reached the comfortable lounges, and she had gracefully sat down beside him. She'd smiled at him, rubbing her hand over her arm and crossing her legs, but careful not to smudge the sparkling golden lines running up her left upper arm or down her left leg._


	3. Saturday Morning

Helga had always fascinated him, mainly in a negative way during their childhood, but more with a longing sense of confusion during high school. He hated that they didn't talk, he knew that much, actually he thought about it a lot. Just like he wondered why she took AP English classes, or why she _always_ ate pastrami for lunch, even why she always walked the long way home from school. Actually, it was only now that he thought about these together, he was beginning to realise just how much of his time he spent thinking about, wondering about, and even loosely following, Helga.

"Hello? Hello?" a distant voice echoed through his thoughts, "Arnold!" and suddenly he realised Gerald was now standing before him in the hallway, snapping his fingers in front of Arnold's eyes.

"Oh, morning Gerald." he responded rather vaguely, very reluctantly pulling his mind away from whatever path this thoughts were about to take.

Gerald shook his head, "What's up with you this morning?" he asked, raising an eyebrow, "You're completely out of it."

Arnold largely ignored the directly answering the question, instead he responded with a question of his own, "Do you remember much of last night?"

"Sure, I remember getting here and then I..." Gerald paused and thought it over for a moment, a frown coming to his features as he struggled to put together the fragmented memories, "No, wait, getting here is _all_ I remember."

"Arnold!" Harold's deep voice bellowed from down the hallway, as he rushed down to greet them, "So, did ya get lucky last night, man?"

Arnold could have almost choked on his next breath of air. _Getting lucky_ with Helga Pataki, that's essentially what Harold was asking him without even know it, and why on earth did that make Arnold feel funny. Not uncomfortable, just unsettled.

"No!" he snapped surprisingly defensively, before reining it back in a little, "I mean, I doubt it, I don't remember much anyway."

"Well, _I _remember you talking to that drop dead gorgeous blonde chick for hours, and then the two of you disappeared." Harold reminded him, and Arnold vaguely remembered leaving the ballroom at _some _point, "I want to know if you got to kiss that little vixen!"

Initially, Arnold was distracted by the hilarity of the situation, Harold had just referred to Helga as 'drop dead gorgeous' and he was fairly certain that if, or when, Harold ever discovered who that 'little vixen' was, he'd pass out in shock. However, a more important question came to mind, _had_ he kissed Helga? And why the heck was he really hoping he had.

"Oh, _wait_." Gerald spoke up again slowly, "I remember that girl, and hey, Harold you owe Arnold ten dollars!"

Harold grumbled a little, patting around in search of which pocket contained his money. Arnold wasn't paying much attention, though. He was desperately trying to remember what had happened last night, maybe Helga had been pulling a practical joke, what was she even doing _talking _to him if she wasn't?

"Don't worry about it Harold." Arnold shook his head, "I don't need the money. I have something I need to do instead."

Gerald raised a eyebrow at him, "Something more important than ten dollars?"

"Yeah, way more important." Arnold assured him, turning quickly and heading toward the stairs that lead down to the dining room, where Helga had surely gone for breakfast.

"Hmmm..." Arnold could vaguely hear Harold saying as he went, "He _definitely_ got lucky."

Surprisingly, he was beginning to become nervous now, he was worried, if he couldn't remember what happened last night, how was he supposed to know how to act around Helga. More importantly, why did it matter to him so damn much, and why was the whole thing making his stomach churn.

Arnold, from the corner of his eye, blinked and stopped as he saw the Lloyd's large outdoor water feature, an overwhelming tall fountain filled with what Rhonda had once insisted was only the 'cleanest and purest' of spring water...


	4. Friday Night, Part II

_Arnold shifted his eyes from the running water of the water fountain, the ledge of which he was now sitting on beside a gorgeous girl, and up to quickly look at her beautiful blue eyes again. Midnight had passed not so long ago, and after hours of talking on the lounge inside, she had suggested moving somewhere quieter. Somewhere quieter with him, to talk to him more, he could hardly believe she was still here with him._

_Actually, he cursed time for continuing to pass them by, because the later in the night it became, the closer he was to having to say goodbye and whatever he had right now, whoever she was, this was absolute perfection. She wasn't just her looks, she was intelligent and easy to talk to, he didn't think he had ever met anybody quite like her._

"_I prefer something a little more gutsy than __that__." she laughed a little, in response to his latest remark regarding movies, "Evil Twin is where it's at."_

_Arnold laughed back, smiling at her, "I don't think I've ever met a girl who loves Evil Twin, maybe just a few who tolerate it."_

"_Oh, well, my tastes vary." she added with a little sparkle in her eye, "I also enjoy watching The Notebook and crying into my pillow."_

"_Horror movies __and__ love stories?" he responded, raising an eyebrow, "You must have a split personality."_

_The girl sighed a little, shifting in her place beside the fountain and gazing up toward the skies, "You'd be surprised." she said softly._

_Arnold frowned, she was very cryptic, he'd noticed it all throughout their talk, like she was hiding more than just her face behind a mask, but pieces of her personality behind, well, who knew what._

_Figuring better than to question her statement, Arnold stuck to the movie topic, "So, what attracts you both gory murder movies and shameless romance flicks?" he inquired._

"_Power, I guess, I like things that are powerful. Killing people is obviously powerful, because well, you're taking their life from them." she said thoughtfully, rolling a ringlet of her curly hair between her fingers, "Love is powerful too, it's only an emotion, but it's stronger than __any__ of us."_

"_I never thought of it like that." Arnold responded, he'd have to ponder that further at later date, it was a deep thought._

"_Once you find love, you just can't let it go. No matter how hard you try." she continued, glancing down at her costume and running a finger over the edge of her dress, "Makes you do some pretty crazy stuff."_

_Arnold took a deep breath, and mentally prepared himself for the move he was about to make, lifting his hand and placing it gently over hers. She froze momentarily, her eyes flicking up to meet his, uncertainty shining through for a brief moment. He felt his heart rate increase as they become closer, he felt nervous, was she moving toward him or was he imagining it?_

_She was so close he could see the small specks of pale green between the blue of her eyes, the soft pale skin of her cheeks beneath the mask and the glittery pink shimmer of her lips, the lips that were so close to his. Arnold wasn't entirely sure if he was even breathing anymore, when he felt the soft touch of her lips on his, brushing lightly against each other. She pushed closer, and he felt a tingle surge through his entire body, her kisses were like electricity._

_She pulled away first, startling him a little as she gently stroked his cheek._

"_You never told me your name." he tried to say, but it came out almost as a whisper._

_She shifted away from him slightly, moving to look up at the sky once more, "That's because I can't." she said, her lips forming a sad smile._

_Arnold frowned, "What if I never see you again?"_

_She laughed a little, "Oh, you will." she promised._

_He wanted to ask more, he wanted to push her for her name, but he knew he couldn't, he knew it wouldn't be right. Moments later the double doors leading out to the fountain creaked open and in the doorway appeared the figure of a petite girl, also dressed as a fairy._

"_Um, I was just... looking for a friend..." the girl said slowly, eyeing down the girl sitting next to Arnold._

_Noticing a particular bracelet, namely one Gerald had dragged him through multiple shops over many tedious hours to find, Arnold raised an eyebrow and asked, "Phoebe, is that you?"_

"_Yes, Arnold." she confirmed, sounding slightly nervous, "I was just... um, looking for Helga."_

_Arnold was a little shocked, he hadn't even realised Helga was here, she didn't often attend Rhonda's parties, "Oh, I haven't seen her Phoebe." he informed her, a little sadly, he truly wished she would stop avoiding him._

"_That's alright Arnold." Phoebe assured him, "I just thought I'd check out here for her, but it's very clear she is... not... out here, so bye."_

_Phoebe rushed off, with incredible haste, back through the doors and presumably down to the ballroom to check for Helga once more. Arnold sighed; he almost wanted to go with her._

"_I should go find my friends, too." the mystery girl spoke up._

_Arnold turned to face her, "Please tell me who you are?" he asked, just one last time, as she stood and moved toward the doors._

_Slowly, the girl shook her head, "Sorry." she said softly, returning for one quick moment to press a kiss to his cheek, "Goodnight."_

_With that, she hurried through the doors and was gone._


End file.
